732 lines
56 KiB
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732 lines
56 KiB
XML
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<div2 id="Ps.cvii" n="cvii" next="Ps.cviii" prev="Ps.cvi" progress="58.53%" title="Chapter CVI">
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<h2 id="Ps.cvii-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
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<h3 id="Ps.cvii-p0.2">PSALM CVI.</h3>
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<p class="intro" id="Ps.cvii-p1">We must give glory to God by making confession,
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not only of his goodness but our own badness, which serve as foils
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to each other. Our badness makes his goodness appear the more
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illustrious, as his goodness makes our badness the more heinous and
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scandalous. The foregoing psalm was a history of God's goodness to
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Israel; this is a history of their rebellions and provocations, and
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yet it begins and ends with Hallelujah; for even sorrow for sin
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must not put us out of tune for praising God. Some think it was
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penned at the time of the captivity in Babylon and the dispersion
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of the Jewish nation thereupon, because of that prayer in the
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close, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.47" parsed="|Ps|106|47|0|0" passage="Ps 106:47">ver. 47</scripRef>. I rather
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think it was penned by David at the same time with the foregoing
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psalm, because we find the first verse and the last two verses in
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that psalm which David delivered to Asaph, at the bringing up of
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the ark to the place he had prepared for it (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.1 Bible:Ps.106.47 Bible:Ps.106.48 Bible:1Chr.16.34-1Chr.16.36" parsed="|Ps|106|1|0|0;|Ps|106|47|0|0;|Ps|106|48|0|0;|1Chr|16|34|16|36" passage="Ps 106:1,47,48,1Ch 16:34-36">1 Chron. xvi. 34-36</scripRef>),
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"Gather us from among the heathen;" for we may suppose that in
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Saul's time there was a great dispersion of pious Israelites, when
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David was forced to wander. In this psalm we have, I. The preface
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to the narrative, speaking honour to God (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.1-Ps.106.2" parsed="|Ps|106|1|106|2" passage="Ps 106:1,2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>), comfort to the saints
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(<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.3" parsed="|Ps|106|3|0|0" passage="Ps 106:3">ver. 3</scripRef>), and the desire of
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the faithful towards God's favour, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.4-Ps.106.5" parsed="|Ps|106|4|106|5" passage="Ps 106:4,5">ver. 4, 5</scripRef>. II. The narrative itself of the
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sins of Israel, aggravated by the great things God did for them, an
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account of which is intermixed. Their provocations at the Red Sea
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(<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.6-Ps.106.12" parsed="|Ps|106|6|106|12" passage="Ps 106:6-12">ver. 6-12</scripRef>), lusting
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(<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.13-Ps.106.15" parsed="|Ps|106|13|106|15" passage="Ps 106:13-15">ver. 13-15</scripRef>), mutinying
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(<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.16-Ps.106.18" parsed="|Ps|106|16|106|18" passage="Ps 106:16-18">ver. 16-18</scripRef>),
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worshipping the golden calf (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.19-Ps.106.23" parsed="|Ps|106|19|106|23" passage="Ps 106:19-23">ver.
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19-23</scripRef>), murmuring (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.24-Ps.106.27" parsed="|Ps|106|24|106|27" passage="Ps 106:24-27">ver.
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24-27</scripRef>), joining themselves to Baal-peor (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p1.11" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.28-Ps.106.31" parsed="|Ps|106|28|106|31" passage="Ps 106:28-31">ver. 28-31</scripRef>), quarrelling with
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Moses (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p1.12" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.32-Ps.106.33" parsed="|Ps|106|32|106|33" passage="Ps 106:32,33">ver. 32, 33</scripRef>),
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incorporating themselves with the nations of Canaan, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p1.13" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.34-Ps.106.39" parsed="|Ps|106|34|106|39" passage="Ps 106:34-39">ver. 34-39</scripRef>. To this is added an
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account how God had rebuked them for their sins, and yet saved them
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from ruin, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p1.14" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.40-Ps.106.46" parsed="|Ps|106|40|106|46" passage="Ps 106:40-46">ver. 40-46</scripRef>.
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III. The conclusion of the psalm with prayer and praise, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p1.15" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.47-Ps.106.48" parsed="|Ps|106|47|106|48" passage="Ps 106:47,48">ver. 47, 48</scripRef>. It may be of use to
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us to sing this psalm, that, being put in mind by it of our sins,
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the sins of our land, and the sins of our fathers, we may be
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humbled before God and yet not despair of mercy, which even
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rebellious Israel often found with God.</p>
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<scripCom id="Ps.cvii-p1.16" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106" parsed="|Ps|106|0|0|0" passage="Ps 106" type="Commentary"/>
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<scripCom id="Ps.cvii-p1.17" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.1-Ps.106.5" parsed="|Ps|106|1|106|5" passage="Ps 106:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.106.1-Ps.106.5">
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<h4 id="Ps.cvii-p1.18">Praise for Divine Goodness.</h4>
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<p class="passage" id="Ps.cvii-p2">1 Praise ye the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cvii-p2.1">Lord</span>. O give thanks unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cvii-p2.2">Lord</span>; for <i>he is</i> good: for his mercy
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<i>endureth</i> for ever. 2 Who can utter the mighty acts of
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the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cvii-p2.3">Lord</span>? <i>who</i> can show forth
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all his praise? 3 Blessed <i>are</i> they that keep
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judgment, <i>and</i> he that doeth righteousness at all times.
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4 Remember me, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cvii-p2.4">O Lord</span>, with
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the favour <i>that thou bearest unto</i> thy people: O visit me
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with thy salvation; 5 That I may see the good of thy chosen,
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that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory
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with thine inheritance.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p3">We are here taught,</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p4">I. To bless God (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.1-Ps.106.2" parsed="|Ps|106|1|106|2" passage="Ps 106:1,2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>): <i>Praise you the
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Lord,</i> that is, 1. Give him thanks for his goodness, the
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manifestation of it to us, and the many instances of it. <i>He is
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good</i> and <i>his mercy endures for ever;</i> let us therefore
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own our obligations to him and make him a return of our best
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affections and services. 2. Give him the glory of his greatness,
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his <i>mighty acts,</i> proofs of his almighty power, wherein he
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has done great things, and such as would be opposed. <i>Who can
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utter these?</i> Who is worthy to do it? Who is able to do it? They
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are so many that they cannot be numbered, so mysterious that they
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cannot be described; when we have said the most we can of the
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mighty acts of the Lord, the one half is not told; still there is
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more to be said; it is a subject that cannot be exhausted. We must
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<i>show forth his praise;</i> we may show forth some of it, but
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<i>who can show forth all?</i> Not the angels themselves. This will
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not excuse us in not doing what we can, but should quicken us to do
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all we can.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p5">II. To bless the people of God, to call and
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account them happy (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.3" parsed="|Ps|106|3|0|0" passage="Ps 106:3"><i>v.</i>
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3</scripRef>): <i>Those that keep judgment are blessed,</i> for
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they are fit to be employed in praising God. God's people are those
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whose principles are sound—<i>They keep judgment</i> (they adhere
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to the rules of wisdom and religion, and their practices are
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agreeable); they <i>do righteousness,</i> are just to God and to
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all men, and herein they are steady and constant; they do it <i>at
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all times,</i> in all manner of conversation, at every turn, in
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every instance, and herein persevering to the end.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p6">III. To bless ourselves in the favour of
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God, to place our happiness in it, and to seek it, accordingly,
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with all seriousness, as the psalmist here, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.4-Ps.106.5" parsed="|Ps|106|4|106|5" passage="Ps 106:4,5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. 1. He has an eye to the
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lovingkindness of God, as the fountain of all happiness:
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"<i>Remember me, O Lord!</i> to give me that mercy and grace which
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I stand in need of, <i>with the favour which thou bearest to thy
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people.</i>" As there are a people in the world who are in a
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peculiar manner God's people, so there is a peculiar favour which
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God bears to that people, which all gracious souls desire an
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interest in; and we need desire no more to make us happy. 2. He has
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an eye to the salvation of God, the great salvation, that of the
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soul, as the foundation of happiness: <i>O visit me with thy
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salvation.</i> "Afford me (says Dr. Hammond) that pardon and that
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grace which I stand in need of, and can hope for from none but
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thee." Let that salvation be my portion for ever, and the pledges
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of it my present comfort. 3. He has an eye to the blessedness of
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the righteous, as that which includes all good (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.5" parsed="|Ps|106|5|0|0" passage="Ps 106:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): "<i>That I may see the good of
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thy chosen</i> and be as happy as the saints are; and happier I do
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not desire to be." God's people are here called his <i>chosen,</i>
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his <i>nation,</i> his <i>inheritance;</i> for he has set them
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apart for himself, incorporated them under his own government, is
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served by them and glorified in them. The chosen people of God have
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a good which is peculiar to them, which is the matter both of their
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gladness and of their glorying, which is their pleasure, and their
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praise. God's people have reason to be a cheerful people, and to
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boast in their God all the day long; and those who have that
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gladness, that glory, need not envy any of the children of men
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their pleasure or pride. The gladness of God's nation, and the
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glory of his inheritance, are enough to satisfy any man; for they
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have everlasting joy and glory at the end of them.</p>
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</div><scripCom id="Ps.cvii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.6-Ps.106.12" parsed="|Ps|106|6|106|12" passage="Ps 106:6-12" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.106.6-Ps.106.12">
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<h4 id="Ps.cvii-p6.4">The Sins of Israelites.</h4>
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<p class="passage" id="Ps.cvii-p7">6 We have sinned with our fathers, we have
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committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. 7 Our fathers
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understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the
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multitude of thy mercies; but provoked <i>him</i> at the sea,
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<i>even</i> at the Red sea. 8 Nevertheless he saved them for
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his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.
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9 He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he
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led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. 10
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And he saved them from the hand of him that hated <i>them,</i> and
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redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. 11 And the waters
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covered their enemies: there was not one of them left. 12
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Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p8">Here begins a penitential confession of
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sin, which was in a special manner seasonable now that the church
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was in distress; for thus we must justify God in all that he brings
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upon us, acknowledging that <i>therefore</i> he has done right,
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because <i>we have done wickedly;</i> and the remembrance of former
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sins, notwithstanding which God did not cast off his people, is an
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encouragement to us to hope that, though we are justly corrected
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for our sins, yet we shall not be utterly abandoned.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p9">I. God's afflicted people here own
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themselves guilty before God (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.6" parsed="|Ps|106|6|0|0" passage="Ps 106:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): "<i>We have sinned with our
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fathers,</i> that is, like our fathers, after the similitude of
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their transgression. We have added to the stock of hereditary
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guilt, and filled up the measure of our fathers' iniquity, <i>to
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augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord,</i>" <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.14 Bible:Matt.23.32" parsed="|Num|32|14|0|0;|Matt|23|32|0|0" passage="Nu 32:14,Mt 23:32">Num. xxxii. 14; Matt. xxiii. 32</scripRef>. And
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see how they lay a load upon themselves, as becomes penitents:
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"<i>We have committed iniquity,</i> that which is in its own nature
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sinful, and <i>we have done wickedly;</i> we have sinned with a
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high hand presumptuously." Or this is a confession, not only of
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their imitation of, but their interest in, their fathers' sins:
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<i>We have sinned with our fathers,</i> for we were in their loins
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and we <i>bear their iniquity,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.5.7" parsed="|Lam|5|7|0|0" passage="La 5:7">Lam.
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v. 7</scripRef>.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p10">II. They bewail the sins of their fathers
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when they were first formed into a people, which, since children
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often smart for, they are concerned to sorrow for, even further
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than to the third and fourth generation. Even we now ought to take
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occasion from the history of Israel's rebellions to lament the
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depravity and perverseness of man's nature and its unaptness to be
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amended by the most probable means. Observe here,</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p11">1. The strange stupidity of Israel in the
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midst of the favours God bestowed upon them (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.7" parsed="|Ps|106|7|0|0" passage="Ps 106:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>They understood not thy
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wonders in Egypt.</i> They saw them, but they did not rightly
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apprehend the meaning and design of them. <i>Blessed are those that
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have not seen, and yet have</i> understood. They thought the
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plagues of Egypt were intended for their deliverance, whereas they
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were intended also for their instruction and conviction, not only
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to force them out of their Egyptian slavery, but to cure them of
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their inclination to Egyptian idolatry, by evidencing the sovereign
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power and dominion of the God of Israel, above all gods, and his
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particular concern for them. We lose the benefit of providences for
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want of understanding them. And, as their understandings were dull,
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so their memories were treacherous; though one would think such
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astonishing events should never have been forgotten, yet they
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remembered them not, at least <i>they remembered not the multitude
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of</i> God's <i>mercies</i> in them. <i>Therefore</i> God is
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distrusted because his favours are not remembered.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p12">2. Their perverseness arising from this
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stupidity: <i>They provoked him at the sea, even at the Red
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Sea.</i> The provocation was, despair of deliverance (because the
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danger was great) and wishing they had been left in Egypt still,
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<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.11-Exod.14.12" parsed="|Exod|14|11|14|12" passage="Ex 14:11,12">Exod. xiv. 11, 12</scripRef>.
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Quarrelling with God's providence, and questioning his power,
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goodness, and faithfulness, are as great provocations to him as any
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whatsoever. The place aggravated the crime; it was <i>at the sea,
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at the Red Sea,</i> when they had newly come out of Egypt and the
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wonders God had wrought for them were fresh in their minds; yet
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they reproach him, as if all that power had no mercy in it, but he
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had brought them out of Egypt on purpose to <i>kill them in the
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wilderness.</i> They never lay at God's mercy so immediately as in
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their passage through the Red Sea, yet there they affront it, and
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provoke his wrath.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p13">3. The great salvation God wrought for them
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notwithstanding their provocations, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.8-Ps.106.11" parsed="|Ps|106|8|106|11" passage="Ps 106:8-11"><i>v.</i> 8-11</scripRef>. (1.) He forced a passage
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for them through the sea: <i>He rebuked the Red Sea</i> for
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standing in their way and retarding their march, <i>and it was
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dried up</i> immediately; as, in the creation, <i>at God's rebuke
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the waters fled,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.7" parsed="|Ps|104|7|0|0" passage="Ps 104:7">Ps. civ.
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7</scripRef>. Nay, he not only prepared them a way, but, by the
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pillar of cloud and fire, he <i>led them</i> into the sea, and, by
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the conduct of Moses, led them through it as readily as <i>through
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the wilderness.</i> He encouraged them to take those steps, and
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subdued their fears, when those were their most dangerous and
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threatening enemies. See <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.12-Isa.63.14" parsed="|Isa|63|12|63|14" passage="Isa 63:12-14">Isa.
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lxiii. 12-14</scripRef>. (2.) He interposed between them and their
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pursuers, and prevented them from cutting them off, as they
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designed. The Israelites were all on foot, and the Egyptians had
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all of them chariots and horses, with which they were likely to
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overtake them quickly, but God <i>saved them from the hand of him
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that hated them,</i> namely, Pharaoh, who never loved them, but now
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hated them the more for the plagues he had suffered on their
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account. <i>From the hand of</i> his <i>enemy,</i> who was just
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ready to seize them, <i>God redeemed them</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.10" parsed="|Ps|106|10|0|0" passage="Ps 106:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), interposing himself, as it
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were, in the pillar of fire, between the persecuted and the
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persecutors. (3.) To complete the mercy, and turn the deliverance
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into a victory, the Red Sea, which was a lane to them, was a grave
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to the Egyptians (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.11" parsed="|Ps|106|11|0|0" passage="Ps 106:11"><i>v.</i>
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|
11</scripRef>): <i>The waters covered their enemies,</i> so as to
|
|||
|
slay them, but not so as to conceal their shame; for, the next
|
|||
|
tide, they were thrown up dead upon the shore, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p13.6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.30" parsed="|Exod|14|30|0|0" passage="Ex 14:30">Exod. xiv. 30</scripRef>. <i>There was not one of them
|
|||
|
left</i> alive, to bring tidings of what had become of the rest.
|
|||
|
And why did God do this for them? Nay, why did he not cover them,
|
|||
|
as he did their enemies, for their unbelief and murmuring? He tells
|
|||
|
us (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p13.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.8" parsed="|Ps|106|8|0|0" passage="Ps 106:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): it was
|
|||
|
<i>for his name's sake.</i> Though they did not deserve this
|
|||
|
favour, he designed it; and their undeservings should not alter his
|
|||
|
designs, nor break his measures, nor make him withdraw his promise,
|
|||
|
or fail in the performance of it. He did this for his own glory,
|
|||
|
<i>that he might make his mighty power to be known,</i> not only in
|
|||
|
dividing the sea, but in doing it notwithstanding their
|
|||
|
provocations. Moses prays (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p13.8" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.17 Bible:Num.14.19" parsed="|Num|14|17|0|0;|Num|14|19|0|0" passage="Nu 14:17,19">Num.
|
|||
|
xiv. 17, 19</scripRef>), <i>Let the power of my Lord be great and
|
|||
|
pardon the iniquity of this people.</i> The power of the God of
|
|||
|
grace in pardoning sin and sparing sinners is as much to be admired
|
|||
|
as the power of the God of nature in dividing the waters.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p14">4. The good impression this made upon them
|
|||
|
for the present (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.12" parsed="|Ps|106|12|0|0" passage="Ps 106:12"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
12</scripRef>): <i>Then believed they his words,</i> and
|
|||
|
acknowledged that God was with them of a truth, and had, in mercy
|
|||
|
to them, brought them out of Egypt, and not with any design to slay
|
|||
|
them in the wilderness; then <i>they feared the Lord and his
|
|||
|
servant Moses,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.31" parsed="|Exod|14|31|0|0" passage="Ex 14:31">Exod. xiv.
|
|||
|
31</scripRef>. Then <i>they sang his praise,</i> in that song of
|
|||
|
Moses penned on this great occasion, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.1" parsed="|Exod|15|1|0|0" passage="Ex 15:1">Exod. xv. 1</scripRef>. See in what a gracious and
|
|||
|
merciful way God sometimes silences the unbelief of his people, and
|
|||
|
turns their fears into praises; and so it is written, <i>Those that
|
|||
|
erred in spirit shall come to understanding,</i> and <i>those that
|
|||
|
murmured shall learn doctrine,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.29.24" parsed="|Isa|29|24|0|0" passage="Isa 29:24">Isa. xxix. 24</scripRef>.</p>
|
|||
|
</div><scripCom id="Ps.cvii-p14.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.13-Ps.106.33" parsed="|Ps|106|13|106|33" passage="Ps 106:13-33" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.106.13-Ps.106.33">
|
|||
|
<h4 id="Ps.cvii-p14.6">Provocation of Israel in the
|
|||
|
Wilderness.</h4>
|
|||
|
<p class="passage" id="Ps.cvii-p15">13 They soon forgat his works; they waited not
|
|||
|
for his counsel: 14 But lusted exceedingly in the
|
|||
|
wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. 15 And he gave
|
|||
|
them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. 16
|
|||
|
They envied Moses also in the camp, <i>and</i> Aaron the saint of
|
|||
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cvii-p15.1">Lord</span>. 17 The earth opened
|
|||
|
and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.
|
|||
|
18 And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the
|
|||
|
wicked. 19 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the
|
|||
|
molten image. 20 Thus they changed their glory into the
|
|||
|
similitude of an ox that eateth grass. 21 They forgat God
|
|||
|
their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt; 22
|
|||
|
Wondrous works in the land of Ham, <i>and</i> terrible things by
|
|||
|
the Red sea. 23 Therefore he said that he would destroy
|
|||
|
them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to
|
|||
|
turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy <i>them.</i> 24
|
|||
|
Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word:
|
|||
|
25 But murmured in their tents, <i>and</i> hearkened not
|
|||
|
unto the voice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cvii-p15.2">Lord</span>.
|
|||
|
26 Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them
|
|||
|
in the wilderness: 27 To overthrow their seed also among the
|
|||
|
nations, and to scatter them in the lands. 28 They joined
|
|||
|
themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
|
|||
|
29 Thus they provoked <i>him</i> to anger with their
|
|||
|
inventions: and the plague brake in upon them. 30 Then stood
|
|||
|
up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and <i>so</i> the plague was
|
|||
|
stayed. 31 And that was counted unto him for righteousness
|
|||
|
unto all generations for evermore. 32 They angered
|
|||
|
<i>him</i> also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with
|
|||
|
Moses for their sakes: 33 Because they provoked his spirit,
|
|||
|
so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p16">This is an abridgment of the history of
|
|||
|
Israel's provocations in the wilderness, and of the wrath of God
|
|||
|
against them for those provocations: and this abridgment is
|
|||
|
abridged by the apostle, with application to us Christians
|
|||
|
(<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.5" parsed="|1Cor|10|5|0|0" passage="1Co 10:5">1 Cor. x. 5</scripRef>, &c.); for
|
|||
|
these things were <i>written for our admonition,</i> that we sin
|
|||
|
not like them, lest we suffer like them.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p17">I. The cause of their sin was disregard to
|
|||
|
the works and word of God, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.13" parsed="|Ps|106|13|0|0" passage="Ps 106:13"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
13</scripRef>. 1. They minded not what he had done for them:
|
|||
|
<i>They soon forgot his works,</i> and lost the impressions they
|
|||
|
had made upon them. Those that do not improve God's mercies to
|
|||
|
them, nor endeavour in some measure to render according to the
|
|||
|
benefit done unto them, do indeed forget them. This people soon
|
|||
|
forgot them (God took notice of this, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.8" parsed="|Exod|32|8|0|0" passage="Ex 32:8">Exod. xxxii. 8</scripRef>, <i>They have turned aside
|
|||
|
quickly): They made haste, they forgot his works</i> (so it is in
|
|||
|
the margin), which some make to be two separate instances of their
|
|||
|
sin. <i>They made haste;</i> their expectations anticipated God's
|
|||
|
promises; they expected to be in Canaan shortly, and because they
|
|||
|
were not they questioned whether they should ever be there and
|
|||
|
quarrelled with all the difficulties they met with in their way;
|
|||
|
whereas <i>he that believeth does not make haste,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.28.16" parsed="|Isa|28|16|0|0" passage="Isa 28:16">Isa. xxviii. 16</scripRef>. And, withal,
|
|||
|
<i>they forgot his works,</i> which were the undeniable evidences
|
|||
|
of his wisdom, power, and goodness, and denied the conclusion as
|
|||
|
confidently as if they had never seen the premises proved. This is
|
|||
|
mentioned again (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.21-Ps.106.22" parsed="|Ps|106|21|106|22" passage="Ps 106:21,22"><i>v.</i> 21,
|
|||
|
22</scripRef>): <i>They forgot God their Saviour;</i> that is, they
|
|||
|
forgot that he had been their Saviour. Those that forget the works
|
|||
|
of God forget God himself, who makes himself known by his works.
|
|||
|
They forgot what was done but a few days before, which we may
|
|||
|
suppose they could not but talk of, even then, when, because they
|
|||
|
did not make a good use of it, they are said to forget it: it was
|
|||
|
what God did for them <i>in Egypt, in the land of Ham,</i> and
|
|||
|
<i>by the Red Sea,</i> things which we at this distance cannot, or
|
|||
|
should not, be unmindful of. They are called <i>great things</i>
|
|||
|
(for, though the great God does nothing mean, yet he does some
|
|||
|
things that are in a special manner great), <i>wondrous works,</i>
|
|||
|
out of the common road of Providence, therefore observable,
|
|||
|
therefore memorable, and <i>terrible things,</i> awful to them, and
|
|||
|
dreadful to their enemies, and yet soon forgotten. Even miracles
|
|||
|
that were seen passed away with them as tales that are told. 2.
|
|||
|
They minded not what God had said to them nor would they depend
|
|||
|
upon it: <i>They waited not for his counsel,</i> did not attend his
|
|||
|
word, though they had Moses to be his mouth to them; they took up
|
|||
|
resolves about which they did not consult him and made demands
|
|||
|
without calling upon him. They would be in Canaan directly, and had
|
|||
|
not patience to tarry God's time. The delay was intolerable, and
|
|||
|
therefore the difficulties were looked upon as insuperable. This is
|
|||
|
explained (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p17.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.24" parsed="|Ps|106|24|0|0" passage="Ps 106:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>):
|
|||
|
<i>They believed not his word,</i> his promise that he would make
|
|||
|
them masters of Canaan; and (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p17.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.25" parsed="|Ps|106|25|0|0" passage="Ps 106:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>), <i>They hearkened not to the
|
|||
|
voice of the Lord,</i> who gave them counsel which they would not
|
|||
|
wait for, not only by Moses and Aaron, but by Caleb and Joshua,
|
|||
|
<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p17.7" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.6-Num.14.7" parsed="|Num|14|6|14|7" passage="Nu 14:6,7">Num. xiv. 6, 7</scripRef>, &c.
|
|||
|
Those that will not wait for God's counsel shall justly be given up
|
|||
|
to their own hearts' lusts, to walk in their own counsels.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p18">II. Many of their sins are here mentioned,
|
|||
|
together with the tokens of God's displeasure which they fell under
|
|||
|
for those sins.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p19">1. They would have flesh, and yet would not
|
|||
|
believe that God could give it to them (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.14" parsed="|Ps|106|14|0|0" passage="Ps 106:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>They lusted a lust</i> (so
|
|||
|
the word is) <i>in the wilderness;</i> there, where they had bread
|
|||
|
enough and to spare, yet nothing would serve them but they must
|
|||
|
have flesh to eat. They were now purely at God's finding, being
|
|||
|
supported entirely by miracles, so that this was a reflection upon
|
|||
|
the wisdom and goodness of their Creator. They were also, in all
|
|||
|
probability, within a step of Canaan, yet had not patience to stay
|
|||
|
for dainties till they came thither. They had flocks and herds of
|
|||
|
their own, but they will not kill them; God must give them flesh as
|
|||
|
he gave them bread, or they will never give him credit, or their
|
|||
|
good word. They did not only wish for flesh, <i>but</i> they
|
|||
|
<i>lusted exceedingly</i> after it. A desire, even of lawful
|
|||
|
things, when it is inordinate and violent, becomes sinful; and
|
|||
|
therefore this is called <i>lusting after evil things</i>
|
|||
|
(<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.6" parsed="|1Cor|10|6|0|0" passage="1Co 10:6">1 Cor. x. 6</scripRef>), though the
|
|||
|
quails, as God's gift, were good things, and were so spoken of,
|
|||
|
<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.40" parsed="|Ps|105|40|0|0" passage="Ps 105:40">Ps. cv. 40</scripRef>. Yet this was
|
|||
|
not all: <i>They tempted God in the desert,</i> where they had had
|
|||
|
such experience of his goodness and power, and questioned whether
|
|||
|
he could and would gratify them herein. See <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.19-Ps.78.20" parsed="|Ps|78|19|78|20" passage="Ps 78:19,20">Ps. lxxviii. 19, 20</scripRef>. Now how did God show
|
|||
|
his displeasure against them for this. We are told how (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p19.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.15" parsed="|Ps|106|15|0|0" passage="Ps 106:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): <i>He gave them their
|
|||
|
request,</i> but gave it them in anger, and with a curse, for he
|
|||
|
<i>sent leanness into their soul;</i> he filled them with
|
|||
|
uneasiness of mind, and terror of conscience, and a self-reproach,
|
|||
|
occasioned by their bodies being sick with the surfeit, such as
|
|||
|
sometimes drunkards experience after a great debauch. Or this is
|
|||
|
put for that great plague with which the Lord smote them, <i>while
|
|||
|
the flesh was yet between their teeth,</i> as we read, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p19.6" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.33" parsed="|Num|11|33|0|0" passage="Nu 11:33">Num. xi. 33</scripRef>. It was the consumption
|
|||
|
of the life. Note, (1.) What is asked in passion is often given in
|
|||
|
wrath. (2.) Many that fare deliciously every day, and whose bodies
|
|||
|
are healthful and fat, have, at the same time, leanness in their
|
|||
|
souls, no love to God, no thankfulness, no appetite to the bread of
|
|||
|
life, and then the soul must needs be lean. Those wretchedly forget
|
|||
|
themselves that feast their bodies and starve their souls.
|
|||
|
<i>Then</i> God gives the good things of this life in love, when
|
|||
|
with them he gives grace to glorify him in the use of them; for
|
|||
|
then <i>the soul delights itself in fatness,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p19.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.55.2" parsed="|Isa|55|2|0|0" passage="Isa 55:2">Isa. lv. 2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p20">2. They quarrelled with the government
|
|||
|
which God had set over them both in church and state (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.16" parsed="|Ps|106|16|0|0" passage="Ps 106:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): <i>They envied
|
|||
|
Moses</i> his authority <i>in the camp,</i> as generalissimo of the
|
|||
|
armies of Israel and chief justice in all their courts; they envied
|
|||
|
<i>Aaron</i> his power, as <i>saint of the Lord,</i> consecrated to
|
|||
|
the office of high priest, and Korah would needs put in for the
|
|||
|
pontificate, while Dathan and Abiram, as princes of the tribe of
|
|||
|
Reuben, Jacob's eldest son, would claim to be chief magistrates, by
|
|||
|
the so-much-admired right of primogeniture. Note, Those are
|
|||
|
preparing ruin for themselves who envy those whom God has put
|
|||
|
honour upon and usurp the dignities they were never designed for.
|
|||
|
And justly will contempt be poured upon those who put contempt upon
|
|||
|
any of the saints of the Lord. How did God show his displeasure for
|
|||
|
this? We are told how, and it is enough to make us tremble
|
|||
|
(<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.17-Ps.106.18" parsed="|Ps|106|17|106|18" passage="Ps 106:17,18"><i>v.</i> 17, 18</scripRef>); we
|
|||
|
have the story, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.32 Bible:Num.16.35" parsed="|Num|16|32|0|0;|Num|16|35|0|0" passage="Nu 16:32,35">Num. xvi. 32,
|
|||
|
35</scripRef>. (1.) Those that flew in the face of the civil
|
|||
|
authority were punished by <i>the earth,</i> which <i>opened and
|
|||
|
swallowed them up,</i> as not fit to go upon God's ground, because
|
|||
|
they would not submit to God's government. (2.) Those that would
|
|||
|
usurp the ecclesiastical authority in things pertaining to God
|
|||
|
suffered the vengeance of heaven, for <i>fire came out from the
|
|||
|
Lord and consumed them,</i> and the pretending sacrificers were
|
|||
|
themselves sacrificed to divine justice. <i>The flame burnt up the
|
|||
|
wicked;</i> for though they vied with <i>Aaron, the saint of the
|
|||
|
Lord,</i> for holiness (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.3 Bible:Num.16.5" parsed="|Num|16|3|0|0;|Num|16|5|0|0" passage="Nu 16:3,5">Num. xvi. 3,
|
|||
|
5</scripRef>), yet God adjudged them wicked, and as such cut them
|
|||
|
off, as in due time he will destroy the man of sin, that wicked
|
|||
|
one, notwithstanding his proud pretensions to holiness.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p21">3. They made and worshipped the golden
|
|||
|
calf, and this in Horeb, where the law was given, and where God had
|
|||
|
expressly said, <i>Thou shalt</i> neither <i>make any graven
|
|||
|
image</i> nor <i>bow down</i> to it; they did both: <i>They made a
|
|||
|
calf and worshipped</i> it, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.19" parsed="|Ps|106|19|0|0" passage="Ps 106:19"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p22">(1.) Herein they bade defiance to, and put
|
|||
|
an affront upon, the two great lights which God has made to rule
|
|||
|
the moral world:—[1.] That of human reason; for <i>they changed
|
|||
|
their glory,</i> their God, at least the manifestation of him,
|
|||
|
which always had been in a cloud (either a dark cloud or a bright
|
|||
|
one), without any manner of visible similitude, <i>into the
|
|||
|
similitude of</i> Apis, one of the Egyptian idols, <i>an ox that
|
|||
|
eateth grass,</i> than which nothing could be more grossly and
|
|||
|
scandalously absurd, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.20" parsed="|Ps|106|20|0|0" passage="Ps 106:20"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
20</scripRef>. Idolaters are perfectly besotted, and put the
|
|||
|
greatest disparagement possible both upon God, in representing him
|
|||
|
by the image of a beast, and upon themselves, in worshipping it
|
|||
|
when they have so done. That which is here said to be the changing
|
|||
|
of their glory is explained by St. Paul (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.23" parsed="|Rom|1|23|0|0" passage="Ro 1:23">Rom. i. 23</scripRef>) to be the <i>changing of the glory
|
|||
|
of the incorruptible God.</i> [2.] That of divine revelation, which
|
|||
|
was afforded to them, not only in the words God spoke to them, but
|
|||
|
in the works he wrought for them, <i>wondrous works,</i> which
|
|||
|
declared aloud that the Lord Jehovah is the only true and living
|
|||
|
God and is alone to be worshipped, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.21-Ps.106.22" parsed="|Ps|106|21|106|22" passage="Ps 106:21,22"><i>v.</i> 21, 22</scripRef>.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p23">(2.) For this God showed his displeasure by
|
|||
|
declaring the decree that he would cut them off from being a
|
|||
|
people, as they had, as far as lay in their power, in effect cut
|
|||
|
him off from being a God; he <i>spoke of destroying them</i>
|
|||
|
(<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.23" parsed="|Ps|106|23|0|0" passage="Ps 106:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), and
|
|||
|
certainly he would have done it if <i>Moses, his chosen, had not
|
|||
|
stood before him in the breach</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.23" parsed="|Ps|106|23|0|0" passage="Ps 106:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), if he had not seasonably
|
|||
|
interposed to deal with God as an advocate about the breach or ruin
|
|||
|
God was about to devote them to and wonderfully prevailed to turn
|
|||
|
away his wrath. See here the mercy of God, and how easily his anger
|
|||
|
is turned away, even from a provoking people. See the power of
|
|||
|
prayer, and the interest which God's chosen have in heaven. See a
|
|||
|
type of Christ, God's <i>chosen,</i> his <i>elect, in whom his soul
|
|||
|
delights,</i> who <i>stood before him in the breach</i> to <i>turn
|
|||
|
away</i> his wrath from a provoking world, and ever lives, for this
|
|||
|
end, making intercession.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p24">4. They gave credit to the report of the
|
|||
|
evil spies concerning the land of Canaan, in contradiction to the
|
|||
|
promise of God (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.24" parsed="|Ps|106|24|0|0" passage="Ps 106:24"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
24</scripRef>): <i>They despised the pleasant land.</i> Canaan was
|
|||
|
a pleasant land, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.7" parsed="|Deut|8|7|0|0" passage="De 8:7">Deut. viii.
|
|||
|
7</scripRef>. They undervalued it when they thought it not worth
|
|||
|
venturing for, no, not under the guidance of God himself, and
|
|||
|
therefore were for making a captain and returning to Egypt again.
|
|||
|
They <i>believed not God's word</i> concerning it, but <i>murmured
|
|||
|
in their tents,</i> basely charging God with a design upon them in
|
|||
|
bringing them thither that they might become a prey to the
|
|||
|
Canaanites, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p24.3" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.2-Num.14.3" parsed="|Num|14|2|14|3" passage="Nu 14:2,3">Num. xiv. 2,
|
|||
|
3</scripRef>. And, when they were reminded of God's power and
|
|||
|
promise, they were so far from hearkening to that voice of the Lord
|
|||
|
that they attempted to stone those who spoke to them, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p24.4" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.10" parsed="|Num|14|10|0|0" passage="Nu 14:10">Num. xiv. 10</scripRef>. The heavenly Canaan is
|
|||
|
a pleasant land. A promise is left us of entering into it; but
|
|||
|
there are many that despise it, that neglect and refuse the offer
|
|||
|
of it, that prefer the wealth and pleasure of this world before it,
|
|||
|
and grudge the pains and hazards of this life to obtain that. This
|
|||
|
also was so displeasing to God that <i>he lifted up his hand
|
|||
|
against them,</i> in a way of threatening, <i>to destroy them in
|
|||
|
the wilderness;</i> nay, in a way of swearing, for he swore in his
|
|||
|
wrath that they should not enter into his rest (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p24.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.95.11 Bible:Num.14.28" parsed="|Ps|95|11|0|0;|Num|14|28|0|0" passage="Ps 95:11,Nu 14:28">Ps. xcv. 11; Num. xiv. 28</scripRef>); nay, and
|
|||
|
he threatened that their children also should be <i>overthrown and
|
|||
|
scattered</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p24.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.26-Ps.106.27" parsed="|Ps|106|26|106|27" passage="Ps 106:26,27"><i>v.</i> 26,
|
|||
|
27</scripRef>), and the whole nation dispersed and disinherited;
|
|||
|
but Moses prevailed for mercy for their seed, that they might enter
|
|||
|
Canaan. Note, Those who despise God's favours, and particularly the
|
|||
|
pleasant land, forfeit his favours, and will be shut out for ever
|
|||
|
from the pleasant land.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p25">5. They were guilty of a great sin in the
|
|||
|
matter of Peor; and this was the sin of the new generation, when
|
|||
|
they were within a step of Canaan (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.28" parsed="|Ps|106|28|0|0" passage="Ps 106:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>): <i>They joined themselves to
|
|||
|
Baal-peor,</i> and so were entangled both in idolatry and in
|
|||
|
adultery, in corporeal and in spiritual whoredom, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.1-Num.25.3" parsed="|Num|25|1|25|3" passage="Nu 25:1-3">Num. xxv. 1-3</scripRef>. Those that did often
|
|||
|
partake of the altar of the living God now <i>ate the sacrifices of
|
|||
|
the dead,</i> of the idols of Moab (that were dead images, or dead
|
|||
|
men canonized or deified), or sacrifices to the infernal deities on
|
|||
|
the behalf of their dead friends. <i>Thus they provoked God to
|
|||
|
anger with their inventions</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.29" parsed="|Ps|106|29|0|0" passage="Ps 106:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>), in contempt of him and his
|
|||
|
institutions, his commands, and his threatenings. The iniquity of
|
|||
|
Peor was so great that, long after, it is said, <i>They were not
|
|||
|
cleansed from it,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p25.4" osisRef="Bible:Josh.22.17" parsed="|Josh|22|17|0|0" passage="Jos 22:17">Josh. xxii.
|
|||
|
17</scripRef>. God testified his displeasure at this, (1.) By
|
|||
|
sending a plague among them, which in a little time swept away
|
|||
|
24,000 of those impudent sinners. (2.) By stirring up Phinehas to
|
|||
|
use his power as a magistrate for the suppressing of the sin and
|
|||
|
checking the contagion of it. He stood up in his zeal for the Lord
|
|||
|
of hosts, and executed judgment upon Zimri and Cozbi, sinners of
|
|||
|
the first rank, genteel sinners; he put the law in execution upon
|
|||
|
them, and this was a service so pleasing to God that upon it <i>the
|
|||
|
plague was stayed,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p25.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.30" parsed="|Ps|106|30|0|0" passage="Ps 106:30"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
30</scripRef>. By this, and some other similar acts of public
|
|||
|
justice on that occasion (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p25.6" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.4-Num.25.5" parsed="|Num|25|4|25|5" passage="Nu 25:4,5">Num. xxv.
|
|||
|
4, 5</scripRef>), the guilt ceased to be national, and the general
|
|||
|
controversy was let fall. When the proper officers did their duty
|
|||
|
God left it to them, and did not any longer keep the work in his
|
|||
|
own hands by the plague. Note, National justice prevents national
|
|||
|
judgments. But, Phinehas herein signalizing himself, a special mark
|
|||
|
of honour was put upon him, for what he did was <i>counted to him
|
|||
|
for righteousness to all generations</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p25.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.31" parsed="|Ps|106|31|0|0" passage="Ps 106:31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>), and, in recompence of it, the
|
|||
|
priesthood was entailed on his family. <i>He</i> shall make an
|
|||
|
atonement by offering up the sacrifices, who had so bravely made an
|
|||
|
atonement (so some read it, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p25.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.30" parsed="|Ps|106|30|0|0" passage="Ps 106:30"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
30</scripRef>) by offering up the sinners. Note, It is the honour
|
|||
|
of saints to be zealous against sin.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p26">6. They continued their murmurings to the
|
|||
|
very last of their wanderings; for in the fortieth year they
|
|||
|
<i>angered God at the waters of strife</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.32" parsed="|Ps|106|32|0|0" passage="Ps 106:32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>), which refers to that story,
|
|||
|
<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.3-Num.20.5" parsed="|Num|20|3|20|5" passage="Nu 20:3-5">Num. xx. 3-5</scripRef>. And that
|
|||
|
which aggravated it now was that <i>it went ill with Moses for
|
|||
|
their sakes;</i> for, though he was the meekest of all the men in
|
|||
|
the earth, yet their clamours at that time were so peevish and
|
|||
|
provoking that they put him into a passion, and, having now grown
|
|||
|
very old and off his guard, <i>he spoke unadvisedly with his
|
|||
|
lips</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p26.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.33" parsed="|Ps|106|33|0|0" passage="Ps 106:33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>),
|
|||
|
and not as became him on that occasion; for he said in a heat,
|
|||
|
<i>Hear now, you rebels, must we fetch water out of this rock for
|
|||
|
you?</i> This was Moses's infirmity, and is written for our
|
|||
|
admonition, that we may learn, when we are in the midst of
|
|||
|
provocation, to keep our mouth as with a bridle (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p26.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.39.1-Ps.39.3" parsed="|Ps|39|1|39|3" passage="Ps 39:1-3">Ps. xxxix. 1-3</scripRef>), and to <i>take heed to our
|
|||
|
spirits,</i> that they admit not resentments too much; for, when
|
|||
|
the spirit is provoked, it is much ado, even for those that have a
|
|||
|
great deal of wisdom and grace, not to <i>speak unadvisedly.</i>
|
|||
|
But it is charged upon the people as their sin: <i>They provoked
|
|||
|
his spirit</i> with that with which they angered God himself. Note,
|
|||
|
We must answer not only for our own passions, but for the
|
|||
|
provocation which by them we give to the passions of others,
|
|||
|
especially of those who, if not greatly provoked, would be meek and
|
|||
|
quiet. God shows his displeasure against this sin of theirs by
|
|||
|
shutting Moses and Aaron out of Canaan for their misconduct upon
|
|||
|
this occasion, by which, (1.) God discovered his resentment of all
|
|||
|
such intemperate heats, even in the dearest of his servants. If he
|
|||
|
deals thus severely with Moses for one unadvised word, what does
|
|||
|
their sin deserve who have spoken so many presumptuous wicked
|
|||
|
words? <i>If this was done in the green tree, what shall be done in
|
|||
|
the dry?</i> (2.) God deprived them of the blessing of Moses's
|
|||
|
guidance and government at a time when they most needed it, so that
|
|||
|
his death was more a punishment to them than to himself. It is just
|
|||
|
with God to remove those relations from us that are blessings to
|
|||
|
us, when we are peevish and provoking to them and grieve their
|
|||
|
spirits.</p>
|
|||
|
</div><scripCom id="Ps.cvii-p26.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.34-Ps.106.48" parsed="|Ps|106|34|106|48" passage="Ps 106:34-48" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.106.34-Ps.106.48">
|
|||
|
<h4 id="Ps.cvii-p26.6">Provocation of Israel in the Wilderness; The
|
|||
|
Divine Compassion.</h4>
|
|||
|
<p class="passage" id="Ps.cvii-p27">34 They did not destroy the nations, concerning
|
|||
|
whom the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cvii-p27.1">Lord</span> commanded them:
|
|||
|
35 But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.
|
|||
|
36 And they served their idols: which were a snare unto
|
|||
|
them. 37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters
|
|||
|
unto devils, 38 And shed innocent blood, <i>even</i> the
|
|||
|
blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed
|
|||
|
unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.
|
|||
|
39 Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a
|
|||
|
whoring with their own inventions. 40 Therefore was the
|
|||
|
wrath of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cvii-p27.2">Lord</span> kindled against
|
|||
|
his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.
|
|||
|
41 And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that
|
|||
|
hated them ruled over them. 42 Their enemies also oppressed
|
|||
|
them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.
|
|||
|
43 Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked
|
|||
|
<i>him</i> with their counsel, and were brought low for their
|
|||
|
iniquity. 44 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when
|
|||
|
he heard their cry: 45 And he remembered for them his
|
|||
|
covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
|
|||
|
46 He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried
|
|||
|
them captives. 47 Save us, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cvii-p27.3">O
|
|||
|
Lord</span> our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give
|
|||
|
thanks unto thy holy name, <i>and</i> to triumph in thy praise.
|
|||
|
48 Blessed <i>be</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cvii-p27.4">Lord</span>
|
|||
|
God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the
|
|||
|
people say, Amen. Praise ye the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cvii-p27.5">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p28">Here, I. The narrative concludes with an
|
|||
|
account of Israel's conduct in Canaan, which was of a piece with
|
|||
|
that in the wilderness, and God's dealings with them, wherein, as
|
|||
|
all along, both justice and mercy appeared.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p29">1. They were very provoking to God. The
|
|||
|
miracles and mercies which settled them in Canaan made no more deep
|
|||
|
and durable impressions upon them than those which fetched them out
|
|||
|
of Egypt; for by the time they were just settled in Canaan they
|
|||
|
corrupted themselves, and forsook God. Observe,</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p30">(1.) The steps of their apostasy. [1.] They
|
|||
|
spared the nations which God had doomed to destruction (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.34" parsed="|Ps|106|34|0|0" passage="Ps 106:34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>); when they had got the
|
|||
|
good land God had promised them they had no zeal against the wicked
|
|||
|
inhabitants whom the Lord commanded them to extirpate, pretending
|
|||
|
pity; but so merciful is God that no man needs to be in any case
|
|||
|
more compassionate than he. [2.] When they spared them they
|
|||
|
promised themselves that, notwithstanding this, they would not join
|
|||
|
in any dangerous affinity with them. But the way of sin is
|
|||
|
down-hill; omissions make way for commissions; when they neglect to
|
|||
|
<i>destroy the heathen</i> the next news we hear is, They were
|
|||
|
<i>mingled among the heathen,</i> made leagues with them and
|
|||
|
contracted an intimacy with them, so that they <i>learned their
|
|||
|
works,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p30.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.35" parsed="|Ps|106|35|0|0" passage="Ps 106:35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>.
|
|||
|
That which is rotten will sooner corrupt that which is sound than
|
|||
|
be cured or made sound by it. [3.] When they mingled with them, and
|
|||
|
learned some of their works that seemed innocent diversions and
|
|||
|
entertainments, yet they thought they would never join with them in
|
|||
|
their worship; but by degrees they learned that too (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p30.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.36" parsed="|Ps|106|36|0|0" passage="Ps 106:36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>): <i>They served their
|
|||
|
idols</i> in the same manner, and with the same rites, that they
|
|||
|
served them; and they became <i>a snare to them.</i> That sin drew
|
|||
|
on many more, and brought the judgments of God upon them, which
|
|||
|
they themselves could not but be sensible of and yet knew not how
|
|||
|
to recover themselves. [4.] When they joined with them in some of
|
|||
|
their idolatrous services, which they thought had least harm in
|
|||
|
them, they little thought that ever they should be guilty of that
|
|||
|
barbarous and inhuman piece of idolatry the sacrificing of their
|
|||
|
living children to their dead gods; but they came to that at last
|
|||
|
(<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p30.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.37-Ps.106.38" parsed="|Ps|106|37|106|38" passage="Ps 106:37,38"><i>v.</i> 37, 38</scripRef>), in
|
|||
|
which Satan triumphed over his worshippers, and regaled himself in
|
|||
|
blood and slaughter: <i>They sacrificed their sons and
|
|||
|
daughters,</i> pieces of themselves, to devils, and added murder,
|
|||
|
the most unnatural murder, to their idolatry; one cannot think of
|
|||
|
it without horror. They <i>shed innocent blood,</i> the most
|
|||
|
innocent, for it was infant-blood, nay, it was the <i>blood of
|
|||
|
their sons and their daughters.</i> See the power of the spirit
|
|||
|
that works in the children of disobedience, and see his malice. The
|
|||
|
beginning of idolatry and superstition, like that of strife, is as
|
|||
|
the letting forth of water, and there is no villany which those
|
|||
|
that venture upon it can be sure they shall stop short of, for God
|
|||
|
justly <i>gives them up to a reprobate mind,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p30.5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.28" parsed="|Rom|1|28|0|0" passage="Ro 1:28">Rom. i. 28</scripRef>.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p31">(2.) Their sin was, in part, their own
|
|||
|
punishment; for by it, [1.] They wronged their country: <i>The land
|
|||
|
was polluted with blood,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p31.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.38" parsed="|Ps|106|38|0|0" passage="Ps 106:38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>. That pleasant land, that holy
|
|||
|
land, was rendered uncomfortable to themselves, and unfit to
|
|||
|
receive those kind tokens of God's favour and presence in it which
|
|||
|
were designed to be its honour. [2.] They wronged their consciences
|
|||
|
(<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p31.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.39" parsed="|Ps|106|39|0|0" passage="Ps 106:39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>): <i>They
|
|||
|
went a whoring with their own inventions,</i> and so debauched
|
|||
|
their own minds, and were <i>defiled with their own works,</i> and
|
|||
|
rendered odious in the eyes of the holy God, and perhaps of their
|
|||
|
own consciences.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p32">2. God brought his judgments upon them; and
|
|||
|
what else could be expected? For his name is Jealous, and he is a
|
|||
|
jealous God. (1.) He fell out with them for it, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.40" parsed="|Ps|106|40|0|0" passage="Ps 106:40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>. He was angry with them: <i>The
|
|||
|
wrath of God,</i> that consuming fire, <i>was kindled against his
|
|||
|
people;</i> for from them he took it as more insulting and
|
|||
|
ungrateful than from the heathen that never knew him. Nay, he was
|
|||
|
sick of them: <i>He abhorred his own inheritance,</i> which once he
|
|||
|
had taken pleasure in; yet the change was not in him, but in them.
|
|||
|
This is the worst thing in sin, that it makes us loathsome to God;
|
|||
|
and the nearer any are to God in profession the more loathsome are
|
|||
|
they if they rebel against him, like a dunghill at our door. (2.)
|
|||
|
Their enemies then fell upon them, and, their defence having
|
|||
|
departed, made an easy prey of them (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p32.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.41-Ps.106.42" parsed="|Ps|106|41|106|42" passage="Ps 106:41,42"><i>v.</i> 41, 42</scripRef>): <i>He gave them into
|
|||
|
the hands of the heathen.</i> Observe here how the punishment
|
|||
|
answered to the sin: They <i>mingled with the heathen and learned
|
|||
|
their works;</i> from them they willingly took the infection of
|
|||
|
sin, and therefore God justly made use of them as the instruments
|
|||
|
of their correction. Sinners often see themselves ruined by those
|
|||
|
by whom they have suffered themselves to be debauched. Satan, who
|
|||
|
is a tempter, will be a tormentor. The heathen hated them.
|
|||
|
Apostates lose all the love on God's side, and get none on Satan's;
|
|||
|
and when those that <i>hated them ruled over them,</i> and they
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were brought into subjection under them, no marvel that they
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oppressed them and ruled them with rigour; and thus God made them
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know the difference between <i>his service and the service of the
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kings of the countries,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p32.3" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.12.8" parsed="|2Chr|12|8|0|0" passage="2Ch 12:8">2 Chron.
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xii. 8</scripRef>. (3.) When God granted them some relief, yet they
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went on in their sins, and their troubles also were continued,
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<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p32.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.43" parsed="|Ps|106|43|0|0" passage="Ps 106:43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>. This refers
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to the days of the Judges, when God often raised up deliverers and
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wrought deliverances for them, and yet they relapsed to idolatry
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and <i>provoked God with their counsel,</i> their idolatrous
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inventions, to deliver them up to some other oppressor, so that at
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last they <i>were brought</i> very <i>low for their iniquity.</i>
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Those that by sin disparage themselves, and will not by repentance
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humble themselves, are justly debased, and humbled, and brought
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low, by the judgments of God. (4.) At length they cried unto God,
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and God returned in favour to them, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p32.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.44-Ps.106.46" parsed="|Ps|106|44|106|46" passage="Ps 106:44-46"><i>v.</i> 44-46</scripRef>. They were chastened for
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their sins, but not destroyed, cast down, but not cast off. God
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appeared for them, [1.] As a God of mercy, who looked upon their
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grievances, <i>regarded their affliction, beheld when distress was
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upon them</i> (so some), who looked over their complaints, for he
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<i>heard their cry</i> with tender compassion (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p32.6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.7" parsed="|Exod|3|7|0|0" passage="Ex 3:7">Exod. iii. 7</scripRef>) and overlooked their
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provocations; for though he had said, and had reason to say it,
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that he would destroy them, yet he <i>repented, according to the
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multitude of his mercies,</i> and reversed the sentence. Though he
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is not a <i>man that he should repent,</i> so as to change his
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mind, yet he is a gracious God, who pities us, and changes his way.
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[2.] As a God of truth, who <i>remembered for them his
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covenant,</i> and made good every word that he had spoken; and
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therefore, bad as they were, he would not break with them, because
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he would not break his own promise. [3.] As a God of power, who has
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all hearts in his hand, and turns them which way soever he pleases.
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<i>He made them to be pitied even of those that carried them
|
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captives,</i> and hated them, and ruled them with rigour. He not
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only restrained the remainder of their enemies' wrath, that it
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should not utterly consume them, but he infused compassion even
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into their stony hearts, and made them relent, which was more than
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any art of man could have done with the utmost force of rhetoric.
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Note, God can change lions into lambs, and, <i>when a man's ways
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please the Lord,</i> will make even <i>his enemies to pity him</i>
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and <i>be at peace with him.</i> When God pities men shall.
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<i>Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia—A God at peace with us makes
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every thing at peace.</i></p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cvii-p33">II. The psalm concludes with prayer and
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praise. 1. Prayer for the completing of his people's deliverance.
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Even when the Lord brought back the captivity of his people still
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there was occasion to pray, <i>Lord, turn again our captivity</i>
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|
(<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p33.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.126.1 Bible:Ps.126.4" parsed="|Ps|126|1|0|0;|Ps|126|4|0|0" passage="Ps 126:1,4">Ps. cxxvi. 1, 4</scripRef>); so
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|
here (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p33.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.47" parsed="|Ps|106|47|0|0" passage="Ps 106:47"><i>v.</i> 47</scripRef>),
|
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|
<i>Save us, O Lord our God! and gather us from among the
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heathen.</i> We may suppose that many who were forced into foreign
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countries, in the times of the Judges (as Naomi was, <scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p33.3" osisRef="Bible:Ruth.1.1" parsed="|Ruth|1|1|0|0" passage="Ru 1:1">Ruth i. 1</scripRef>), had not returned in the
|
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|
beginning of David's reign, Saul's time being discouraging, and
|
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|
therefore it was seasonable to pray, Lord, gather the dispersed
|
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|
Israelites <i>from among the heathen, to give thanks to thy holy
|
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|
name,</i> not only that they may have cause to give thanks and
|
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|
hearts to give thanks, that they may have opportunity to do it in
|
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|
the courts of the Lord's house, from which they were now banished,
|
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|
and so may <i>triumph in thy praise,</i> over those that had in
|
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|
scorn challenged them to <i>sing the Lord's song in a strange
|
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|
land.</i> 2. Praise for the beginning and progress of it (<scripRef id="Ps.cvii-p33.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.48" parsed="|Ps|106|48|0|0" passage="Ps 106:48"><i>v.</i> 48</scripRef>): <i>Blessed be the
|
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|
Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting.</i> He is a
|
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|
blessed God from eternity, and will be so to eternity, and so let
|
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|
him be praised by all his worshippers. Let the priests say this,
|
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|
and then <i>let all the people say, Amen, Hallelujah,</i> in token
|
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|
of their cheerful concurrence in all these prayers, praises, and
|
|||
|
confessions. According to this rubric, or directory, we find that
|
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|
when this psalm (or at least the closing verses of it) was sung all
|
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|
the people said <i>Amen,</i> and praised the Lord by saying,
|
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|
<i>Hallelujah.</i> By these two comprehensive words it is very
|
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|
proper, in religious assemblies, to testify their joining with
|
|||
|
their ministers in the prayers and praises which, as their mouth,
|
|||
|
they offer up to God, according to his will, saying <i>Amen</i> to
|
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|
the prayers and <i>Hallelujah</i> to the praises.</p>
|
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|
</div></div2>
|